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I'm looking at a site that ranks #1 in google for some keywords. I looked over the code of the sites that link to them using ahrefs.com and I came upon something interesting that I don't understand:

For siteA1, they have 5 or more pages (shipping, terms & conditions, sitemap etc) that link back to the web design firm that did their site. EX: siteA1.webdesignfirmSiteB.com/sitemap and this 301 redirects to siteA1.com/sitemap.

For another site siteA2, they have a lot of links that do the same thing. EX: siteA2.webdesignfirmSiteB.com/blue-widgets/ 301 redirects to siteA2.com/blue-widgets/

Is this cheating the ranks?

Cris
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This is probably left over from when the site was being developed. It is quite common to have sitename.webdesign.com and then once the site goes live just 301 redirect all to the "proper" name.

I don't know if there are more reasons than that, but the above is common practice.

Nick Andriopoulos
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  • I see, but wouldn't changing the links be the right thing to do? It slows down the site a bit, is it not? – Cris Feb 20 '13 at 21:32
  • nope, since siteA1.webdesignfirm.com is probably on the webdesign firm server, and it only redirects to the proper (sitesA1.com) domain which most people find normally. If you manage to get to the big URL it's probably by accident, and certainly not part of the normal flow. – Nick Andriopoulos Feb 20 '13 at 21:35
  • I've often seen developers forget to change these sorts of links after moving from the development version to live. I suspect they set up the 301s to do a quick fix for the problem without bothering to go back to the live site and fixing it correctly. – Tony McCreath Feb 21 '13 at 12:41